Helping communities

Funding body: BC Ministry of Health

Background: Helping Communities and Supporting Systems is an ongoing project aimed at promoting a health promotion approach and helping organizations and other stakeholders develop tools and mechanisms for addressing the impact of alcohol and other drug use on individuals, families and neighbourhoods in BC. This ongoing project involves working with communities and systems throughout the province to promote health and well-being relative to substance use. The project revolves around the notion that drug-related problems in our society are more than a matter of personal responsibility. An individual’s choices about alcohol and other drugs—including when, where and how to use them—are strongly influenced by social and environmental factors in their community. The project focuses on four core areas of health:

  • Health capacity: shaping the community environment to make it conducive to health as well as developing the knowledge and skills that allow individuals to take control of their own health
  • Inclusion and connectedness: offering a variety of means and contexts to help citizens feel connected to each other and to the community
  • Managing risk: promoting safer contexts and less risky behaviour among individuals
  • Interventions: regulating the community environment and supporting individual behaviour change

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